1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for measuring acceleration, velocity and angular displacement using a multi-layer fiber optic sensing surface.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Fiber optic devices capable of indicating the position of a light beam are described in Pat. No. 4,911,527 of Garcia et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, a fiber optic input device receives a light beam from a movable light source relative to the input device for providing input signals to a terminal. The device includes a single plane of parallel, clad optical fibers forming columns of a matrix and another similar single plane forming rows, the two planes being placed together to form the matrix. The cladding is removed from the top surface of each fiber to form a window therein to permit the light beam to directly contact the selected window in the column plane and to permit the light beam that passes the column plane optical fibers to enter the window of the row plane. Light sensors are connected to the ends of the optical fibers in both the column and row planes so that a first signal is generated indicating a column position and a second signal is generated indicating a row position, thereby fixing the intersection of the column and row optical fibers at the point where the light beam impinges. At least no more similar single vertical position plane may be positioned adjacent and below the row plane. This vertical position plane has at least no light detector connected to the ends of the optical fibers and provides a signal responsive to the light beam that passes the column and row planes indicative of the vertical position of the light source with respect to the input device.
In application Ser. No. 07/457,439 of Garcia et al., filed Dec. 27, 1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,507, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, there is described a device for tracking an object in three dimensional space having a fiber optic sensor array. The fiber optic sensor array comprises a row plane and a column plane each having a plurality of parallel optical fibers bonded together. A row detector is coupled to the ends of the fibers comprising the row plane. A column detector is coupled to the ends of the fibers comprising the column plane. The row and column detectors are coupled to a decoder circuit. First and second beam generators are affixed to the object and are each operable to transmit beams which terminate on the fiber optic sensor array. By determining the points of incidence of the beams, the decoder circuit determines the position of the object in three dimensions.